Using Information on a Supported One Zone Configuration Setting in Data Forwarders to Determine Zone Information to Send to Data Forwarders

1. A computer program product for managing a controlling switch coupled to data forwarders having ports with which end devices are coupled in a network, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium, wherein the computer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se, the computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein that executes to perform operations, the operations comprising: implementing one large zone for the end devices coupled to the ports of the data forwarders, wherein in the one large zone all the end devices coupled to the data forwarders can communicate with each other; for each of the data forwarders coupled to the controlling switch, performing operations, the operations comprising: determining whether the data forwarder supports a short message format, wherein the short message format comprises a peering descriptor having a plurality of peering entries corresponding to respective end devices coupled to respective ports of a respective data forwarder; generating a first formatted zoning distribution message in the short message format identifying the data forwarder and ports on the data forwarders in the one large zone to which end devices are connected in response to determining that the data forwarder supports the short message format; generating a second formatted zoning distribution message identifying the data forwarder and the ports on the data forwarders in the one large zone and additional fields of information on the ports on the data forwarders in the one large zone not included in the first formatted zoning distribution message in response to determining that the data forwarder does not support the short message format; and sending the generated first formatted or second formatted zoning distribution message to the data forwarder.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the second formatted zoning distribution message includes for each of the ports in the one large zone on which an end device is connected a peering entry identifying each of other ports in the one large zone with which the end device on the port, for which the peering entry is provided, can communicate with in the one large zone.

3. The computer program product of claim 2 , wherein the first formatted zoning distribution message includes in the peering entry for each of the ports in the one large zone to which an end device is connected a flag indicating that the port for which the peering entry is provided can communicate with all ports in the one large zone having connected end devices; and wherein respective peering entries in the first formatted zoning distribution message do not identify respective peer ports to a respective port of the data forwarder to which an end device is connected for which a respective peering entry is provided.

4. The computer program product of claim 3 , wherein the second formatted zoning distribution message includes in the peering entry a field identifying each port having the connected end device in the one large zone with which the port, for which the peering entry is provided, can communicate.

5. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise: maintaining, for each data forwarder coupled to the controlling switch, information indicating whether the data forwarder supports the short message format, wherein the data forwarder information is used to determine whether each data forwarder supports the short message format.

6. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise: sending a membership distribution message to a discovered data forwarder indicating the short message format is supported; receiving an accept response including a field of information indicating whether the discovered data forwarder supports the short message format; and indicating in data forwarder information for the discovered data forwarder that the discovered data forwarder supports or does not support the short message format based on indication in the field of information in the accept response.

7. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise: sending a message to a first data forwarder of the data forwarders in the network indicating that the short message format is supported, wherein a first port on the first data forwarder is connected to a port on the controlling switch and a port on a second data forwarder is connected to a second port on the first data forwarder, wherein no second data forwarder port is directly connected to a port on the controlling switch; receiving from the first data forwarder an accept response indicating whether the first data forwarder supports the short message format; and indicating in data forwarder information for the first data forwarder that the first data forwarder supports or does not support the short message format based on whether the accept response indicates whether the short message format is accepted.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the message comprise a first message and the accept response comprises a first accept response, wherein the first data forwarder sends a second message indicating that the first data forwarder supports the short message format, and wherein the first data forwarder receives a second accept response from the second data forwarder indicating whether the second data forwarder supports the short message format, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving a reachability message from the first data forwarder identifying the second data forwarder and indicating whether the second data forwarder supports the short message format.

9. A computer program product for managing data forwarders having ports with which end devices and a controlling switch are coupled in a network, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium, wherein the computer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se, the computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein that executes to perform operations, the operations comprising: receiving a message from the controlling switch to communicate in a one large zone configuration, wherein in the one large zone all the end devices coupled to the ports of the data forwarders can communicate with each other, wherein the message comprises a membership distribution message received in response to being discovered by the controlling switch; receiving a zone distribution message identifying all the ports in the data forwarders coupled to the controlling switch communicating in the one large zone and including a peering entry for each of the ports on the data forwarders, wherein the peering entry for each of the ports includes a flag indicating that entries for other of the ports on the data forwarders are not listed; determining whether the message indicates that a short message format is supported; generating an accept response indicating that the short message format is supported in response to determining that the message indicates that the short message format is supported; and returning the accept response to the controlling switch.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the message comprises a first message, wherein the accept response comprises a first accept response, wherein the operations further comprise: communicating with the controlling switch on a first port directly linked to a port on the controlling switch; communicating with a second data forwarder on a second port linked to a port on the second data forwarder, wherein the second data forwarder port is directly connected to a port on the controlling switch; sending a second message to the second data forwarder indicating that the short message format is supported; receiving a second accept response from the second data forwarder indicating including a field of information to indicate whether the short message format is supported; and sending a reachability message to the controlling switch identifying the second data forwarder and indicating whether the second data forwarder supports the short message format.

11. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the short message format comprises a peering descriptor having a plurality of peering entries corresponding to respective end devices coupled to respective ports of respective data forwarders in the one large zone; and wherein respective peering entries in the short message format do not identify respective peer ports to a respective port of a respective data forwarder to which an end device is connected for which a respective peering entry is provided.

12. A system coupled in a network to data forwarders having ports with which end devices are coupled, comprising: a processor; and a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code executed by the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising: implementing one large zone for the end devices coupled to the ports of the data forwarders, wherein in the one large zone all the end devices coupled to the data forwarders can communicate with each other; for each of the coupled data forwarders, performing operations, the operations comprising: determining whether the data forwarder supports a short message format wherein the short message format comprises a peering descriptor having a plurality of peering entries corresponding to respective end devices coupled to respective ports of a respective data forwarder in the one large zone; generating a first formatted zoning distribution message in the short message format identifying the data forwarder and ports on the data forwarders in the one large zone to which end devices are connected in response to determining that the data forwarder supports the short message format; generating a second formatted zoning distribution message identifying the data forwarder and the ports on the data forwarders in the one large zone and additional fields of information on the ports on the data forwarders in the one large zone not included in the first formatted zoning distribution message in response to determining that the data forwarder does not support the short message format; and sending the generated first formatted or second formatted zoning distribution message to the data forwarder.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the second formatted zoning distribution message includes for each of the ports in the one large zone on which an end device is connected a peering entry identifying each of other ports in the one large zone with which the end device on the port, for which the peering entry is provided, can communicate with in the one large zone.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the first formatted zoning distribution message includes in the peering entry for each of the ports in the one large zone to which an end device is connected a flag indicating that the port for which the peering entry is provided can communicate with all ports in the one large zone having connected end devices; and wherein respective peering entries in the short message format do not identify respective peer ports to a respective port of the data forwarder to which an end device is connected for which a respective peering entry is provided.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise: maintaining, for each coupled data forwarder, information indicating whether the data forwarder supports the short message format, wherein the data forwarder information is used to determine whether each data forwarder supports the short message format.

16. A system having ports with which end devices and a controlling switch are coupled in a network, wherein the network further includes data forwarders, comprising: a processor; and a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein executed by the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising: receiving a message from the controlling switch to communicate in a one large zone configuration, wherein in the one large zone all the end devices coupled to the ports of the data forwarders can communicate with each other, wherein the message comprises a membership distribution message received in response to being discovered by the controlling switch; receiving a zone distribution message identifying all the ports in the data forwarders coupled to the controlling switch communicating in the one large zone and including a peering entry for each of the ports on the data forwarders, wherein the peering entry for each of the ports includes a flag indicating that entries for other of the ports on the data forwarders are not listed; determining whether the message indicates that a short message format is supported; generating an accept response indicating that the short message format is supported in response to determining that the message indicates that the short message format is supported; and returning the accept response to the controlling switch.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the message comprises a first message, wherein the accept response comprises a first accept response, wherein the operations further comprise: communicating with the controlling switch on a first port directly linked to a port on the controlling switch; communicating with a second data forwarder on a second port linked to a port on the second data forwarder, wherein the second data forwarder port is directly connected to a port on the controlling switch; sending a second message to the second data forwarder indicating that the short message format is supported; receiving a second accept response from the second data forwarder indicating including a field of information to indicate whether the short message format is supported; and sending a reachability message to the controlling switch identifying the second data forwarder and indicating whether the second data forwarder supports the short message format.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the short message format comprises a peering descriptor having a plurality of peering entries corresponding to respective end devices coupled to respective ports of respective data forwarders in the one large zone; and wherein respective peering entries in the short message format do not identify respective peer ports to a respective port of a respective data forwarder to which an end device is connected for which a respective peering entry is provided.

19. A method performed by a controlling switch coupled to data forwarders having ports with which end devices are coupled in a network, comprising: implementing one large zone for the end devices coupled to the ports of the data forwarders, wherein in the one large zone all the end devices coupled to the data forwarders can communicate with each other; for each of the data forwarders coupled to the controlling switch, performing operations, the operations comprising: determining whether the data forwarder supports a short message format, wherein the short message format comprises a peering descriptor having a plurality of peering entries corresponding to respective end devices coupled to respective ports of a respective data forwarder in the one large zone; generating a first formatted zoning distribution message in the short message format identifying the data forwarder and ports on the data forwarders in the one large zone to which end devices are connected in response to determining that the data forwarder supports the short message format; generating a second formatted zoning distribution message identifying the data forwarder and the ports on the data forwarders in the one large zone and additional fields of information on the ports on the data forwarders in the one large zone not included in the first formatted zoning distribution message in response to determining that the data forwarder does not support the short message format; and sending the generated first formatted or second formatted zoning distribution message to the data forwarder.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the second formatted zoning distribution message includes for each of the ports in the one large zone on which an end device is connected a peering entry identifying each of other ports in the one large zone with which the end device on the port, for which the peering entry is provided, can communicate with in the one large zone.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the first formatted zoning distribution message includes in the peering entry for each of the ports in the one large zone to which an end device is connected a flag indicating that the port for which the peering entry is provided can communicate with all ports in the one large zone having connected end devices; and wherein respective peering entries in the short message format do not identify respective peer ports to a respective port of the data forwarder to which an end device is connected for which a respective peering entry is provided.

22. The method of claim 19 , further comprising: maintaining, for each data forwarder coupled to the controlling switch, information indicating whether the data forwarder supports the short message format, wherein the data forwarder information is used to determine whether each data forwarder supports the short message format.

23. A method performed by data forwarders having ports with which end devices and a controlling switch are coupled in a network, comprising: receiving a message from the controlling switch to communicate in a one large zone configuration, wherein in the one large zone all the end devices coupled to the ports of the data forwarders can communicate with each other, wherein the message comprises a membership distribution message received in response to being discovered by the controlling switch; receiving a zone distribution message identifying all the ports in the data forwarders coupled to the controlling switch communicating in the one large zone and including a peering entry for each of the ports on the data forwarders, wherein the peering entry for each of the ports includes a flag indicating that entries for other of the ports on the data forwarders are not listed; determining whether the message indicates that a short message format is supported; generating an accept response indicating that the short message format is supported in response to determining that the message indicates that the short message format is supported; and returning the accept response to the controlling switch.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein the message comprises a first message, wherein the accept response comprises a first accept response, further comprising: communicating with the controlling switch on a first port directly linked to a port on the controlling switch; communicating with a second data forwarder on a second port linked to a port on the second data forwarder, wherein the second data forwarder port is directly connected to a port on the controlling switch; sending a second message to the second data forwarder indicating that the short message format is supported; receiving a second accept response from the second data forwarder indicating including a field of information to indicate whether the short message format is supported; and sending a reachability message to the controlling switch identifying the second data forwarder and indicating whether the second data forwarder supports the short message form.

25. The method of claim 23 , wherein the short message format comprises a peering descriptor having a plurality of peering entries corresponding to respective end devices coupled to respective ports of respective data forwarders in the one large zone; and wherein respective peering entries in the short message format do not identify respective peer ports to a respective port of a respective data forwarder to which an end device is connected for which a respective peering entry is provided.